Page 17 of Premonition of Peace

I pinched the bridge of my nose to calm my slightly erratic breathing.

“Tell me why you need to find her,” he whispered, lips ghosting my neck. I arched involuntarily and Lucifer chuckled.

“No. Not if you won’t promise to stay out of it.”

“You’re in it. I am your familiar. By extension it affects me, whether I choose for it to or not. You’re not asking something I’m capable of doing.”

I opened my mouth to argue with him, except . . . he had a point.

Crap.

“Fine, but I still want you to promise you won’t tellanyoneanything. Okay?”

“Done.” The gold tether between us flared with his promise, his magic enforcing that he keep his word.

I sighed, wondering how much to divulge. “I need to know if my hunch about Not-Sasha is correct. Katherine is the only one who can answer my questions.”

“That wasn’t so hard, now was it?”

I hid a smile by ducking my head and swatted at his chest. “You got your way, now let me by. I have work to get to.”

“You haven’t eaten today.” I pulled my eyes back to him, startled that not only was he right, but he was calling me on it.

“I’ll grab food on my way.”

“Get lunch with me. Work after.”

I hesitated, taken aback by the sudden invitation. Or demand, depending on your perspective. With Lucifer they were often one and the same. “Lunch? You want to get lunch together?” I squinted at him.

“I didn’t stutter, and your hearing isn’tthatbad.”

I opened and closed my mouth, having nothing to say in response. It wasn’t that I was opposed to eating with him. It was a normal thing. But maybe that was the problem. Lucifer wasn’t normal. He didn’t do normal things, like dates.

“He also doesn’t love, and yet your name is branded over his heart,”Ann said.

“Seriously?”

She shrugged.“Just pointing out the facts. He may not be the most logical creature, but even a broken clock is right twice a day. If he really is intent on spending his second life with you, then it stands to reason he would want to date.’’

She was right, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.

“You’re doing it again,” he said quietly, pulling me from my thoughts. “Retreating into your memory loci.” I flushed again, this time for a different reason.

Lucifer gave me a devilish smile and said, “Come. There’s no need to overthink this. We’ll go to the place on the corner you like, and I can finally try their chocolate cake.”

“That . . . sounds really nice, actually.”

Lucifer lifted an eyebrow. “What did you expect?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe for you to make some crude joke about eating me for lunch. That seems more like you.”

He snorted. “I am driven by desire, both mine and yours. I told you, I want more than your body, little witch. I want your thoughts. Your opinions. Your attention. I want to be as integral in your world as you are in mine. While taking you to bed might be a nice place to start, it isn’t enough.”

Without even trying, he stole the breath from my lungs.

I couldn’t help myself from asking, “Will it ever be? Enough, that is?”

He studied my face, considering his answer. “Probably not. The way that I feel about you . . .” He shook his head, but I wasn’t letting him stop there. After a lifetime of being mistreated, I was hungry for his proclamations. Starving for his truths.

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